Sunday, August 7, 2011

A New Way North

The last several years have seen an amazing number of road construction projects around these parts. Today I cobbled together a new route from Mount Vernon to DC that barely used the Mount Vernon Trail. This is welcome news to those of us who hate the trail on summer weekends when it becomes incredibly congested with volksmarchers, rollerbladers, runners, little kids on bikes, etc.

The New Road to Crystal City

From home I took Fort Hunt Road (not the most bike friendly road, I'll admit) to US 1. Then I took the new bike path from US 1 to South Washington Street. Instead of crossing the street and picking up the Mount Vernon Trail to DC, I turned left and picked up South Columbus Street. I rode this and South Alfred Street all the way to the north end of Old Town Alexandria where I picked up US 1 again for a half mile. After using the a new side path to cross over the railroad tracks that Amtrak uses, I picked up a bike trail along a new road that goes straight north all the way to Crystal City. I picked up Clark Street beyond Crystal City which took me to Boundary Channel Drive.

Then I crossed over into Lady Bird Johnson Park and picked up the Mount Vernon Trail at the Humpback Bridge.

Big Nellie on the Bridge to LBJ Park

After visiting LBJ's memorial, I followed some signs to get back to the Mount Vernon Trail.

LBJ Rock. Note the Resemblance to the Man Himself

They Even Put Up Signs

The trail under the bridge emerges directly across from the monuments in DC. Pretty nifty how that all worked out.